Sony Plans Twelve-Megapixel Cameraphones

Mobile phone cameras are set to get more powerful as the race to see who can deliver the most megapixels is on.

Sony has said it will commercialize a new image sensor that could deliver up to 12.25-megapixel resolution. The sensor measures just 7.5-millimeters diagonally.

The latest sensor is designed to meet the increasing demand for better cameras inside mobile phones, says Sony.

The company also announced that it will produce two additional sensors, a 5.76-mm CMOS image sensor with 8.11 effective megapixel resolution and a 4.5-mm sensor with 5.15 effective megapixel resolution.

Sony said it will also produce compact lenses to make it easier for the cameras to be integrated with phones. The company will make two modules–one of which will be a lens module with the 12.25 MP resolution sensor and will measure 10-mm wide, 8.5-mm long and 11.5-mm deep.

The other module with 8.11 MP resolution sensor will be 11.5-mm wide, 6.5-mm long and 9.5-mm deep. The modules have lens and auto focus functions and are the industry’s smallest and thinnest, says Sony.

Miniaturization of mobile phone camera technology has become important as phones are getting smaller. But the process of shrinking the components challenges the image quality and camera sensitivity.

Sony says its new image sensors can improve sensitivity levels and offer a high signal-to-noise ratio, even while the number of pixels increases.

The company, however, did not disclose when these high-resolution sensors are likely to be available in cellphones.

Sony rival Samsung has already released a 10-megapixel camera phone in Korea. By comparison Apple has a 2-megapixel camera for the iPhone, while the latest BlackBerry Storm touchscreen phone to be released on Verizon Wireless later this month will have a 3.2-megapixel camera.